The Brighton and back ride turned out to be 190km with 2200m of climbing, so a good final hit-out. I did it in my Venge and felt pretty comfortable for the whole ride.

My longest run was 24km/2hr, so definitely feeling under cooked from a running point of view. It's all a bit unknown once you get into the 2nd half of the run on the day however well you've been running in training, so I'm not stressing too much about it. I'm down to less than 88kg now, so 5kg less than in 2015 and 2kg less than for any other IM I've done, so hopefully that'll help.

We're flying on Sunday, so my plan is to ride the northern part of the course on Monday and then take it reasonably easy for the rest of the week running up to the event, doing something every day apart from Thursday, but nothing too long.

I don't know how accurate the forecast is, but it's showing a high of 25C on race day (and most of next week), so shouldn't be crazy hot.

I had my usual anxious few moments when I tried my wetsuit on for the first time since 2015 . Fortunately, it still seems to fit. It's a made-to-measure Snugg and I'm a few kg lighter now than I was when I bought it

I'm at CLS for the duration, so I won't be in PDC for a 7am swim, even if I wanted to drag myself out of bed that early before race day . Remember that it only gets light a few minutes before 7am, so you'll be getting the same conditions as race day, but I'd probably tend to go out slightly later. CLS usually lay on a bus to take people over to PDC for practice swims. I'll probably aim to do that a couple of times. In 2015 the race organisation had a bag service on the beach, so you could check your bag in with them while you were in the water. That's helpful if you don't have anyone with you to wait on the beach.
_________________2019: Just riding my bike....
Hot Chillee ride captain (sponsored by Specialized, Sigma Sports, Kalas, Wahoo, One Pro Cycle Insurance)

swim was a bit of a issue. Didn't cope well with the crowded start at all well and ended up being spat out of the back to compose myself before making up ground once I got into some cleaner water. More a mental thing than a swim thing, so hopefully giving myself a stern talking to over the next couple of weeks will resolve it. Any tips for keeping calm in the washing machine?

Probably obvious, but you get much better water if you swim a bit wide. Definitely start on the right hand side of the pen. The course is about as easy to navigate as you'll get - follow the rope buoys out to the big turn buoys, cut in to the next buoy and then swim back parallel to the beach. I always swim parallel to the rope but further out on the outward leg and take the corners wide to avoid the melee around the buoys. You don't end up doing that much more distance, but you should get clearer water. The 2nd lap is usually a bit clearer, so you should be able to swim closer to the rope.

If you're expecting to be a reasonably quick swimmer then you should make sure you get to the start pen early. The pen is the same width now with 1800 athletes as it was in my first year with 800. In 2014 I got to the pen about 10 minutes before the start and the furthest up the pen I could get was under the 1hr 15min+ marker. I usually swim around 1hr, so it took a long time to even reach the water and then I was behind a lot of slower people.

A rolling start would make a big difference, but the organisers seem to like the spectacle of the mass beach start.
_________________2019: Just riding my bike....
Hot Chillee ride captain (sponsored by Specialized, Sigma Sports, Kalas, Wahoo, One Pro Cycle Insurance)

swim was a bit of a issue. Didn't cope well with the crowded start at all well and ended up being spat out of the back to compose myself before making up ground once I got into some cleaner water. More a mental thing than a swim thing, so hopefully giving myself a stern talking to over the next couple of weeks will resolve it. Any tips for keeping calm in the washing machine?

Probably obvious, but you get much better water if you swim a bit wide. Definitely start on the right hand side of the pen. The course is about as easy to navigate as you'll get - follow the rope buoys out to the big turn buoys, cut in to the next buoy and then swim back parallel to the beach. I always swim parallel to the rope but further out on the outward leg and take the corners wide to avoid the melee around the buoys. You don't end up doing that much more distance, but you should get clearer water. The 2nd lap is usually a bit clearer, so you should be able to swim closer to the rope.

If you're expecting to be a reasonably quick swimmer then you should make sure you get to the start pen early. The pen is the same width now with 1800 athletes as it was in my first year with 800. In 2014 I got to the pen about 10 minutes before the start and the furthest up the pen I could get was under the 1hr 15min+ marker. I usually swim around 1hr, so it took a long time to even reach the water and then I was behind a lot of slower people.

A rolling start would make a big difference, but the organisers seem to like the spectacle of the mass beach start.

Thanks...useful info. My last Iron distance swim was about 1:02, but that was a lake swim and a small field (~250) so I am guessing I will be a fair bit slower in the sea and big field.

Swim Lanzarote arrange the swims I mentioned...starts at 8 (not 7 as I previously said). Meet at the Ironman start and there is no charge .

I'm possibly out. My finger is bad and I'm in hospital currently. On iv antibiotics and having small surgery in the morning. Dr I spoke to yesterday said I can't swim. Going to ask the one tomorrow and hope to get a new answer.

I'm possibly out. My finger is bad and I'm in hospital currently. On iv antibiotics and having small surgery in the morning. Dr I spoke to yesterday said I can't swim. Going to ask the one tomorrow and hope to get a new answer.

I'm possibly out. My finger is bad and I'm in hospital currently. On iv antibiotics and having small surgery in the morning. Dr I spoke to yesterday said I can't swim. Going to ask the one tomorrow and hope to get a new answer.

Bu99er! It would be terrible if this stops you racing after all the hard work you've put in to date

Fingers crossed (pardon the pun ) for a positive outcome

Yeah bloody annoying. If I tore a calf training it would be one thing but to have my body perfectly OK but not able to do it because of a finger wound is silly. There is the chance I could say sod it and do it anyway. At least it's a sea swim and not in a manky lake.

Kinda hoping when they come and look at it this morning it's healed more and they don't need to do it.

I'm possibly out. My finger is bad and I'm in hospital currently. On iv antibiotics and having small surgery in the morning. Dr I spoke to yesterday said I can't swim. Going to ask the one tomorrow and hope to get a new answer.

Bu99er! It would be terrible if this stops you racing after all the hard work you've put in to date

Fingers crossed (pardon the pun ) for a positive outcome

Yeah bloody annoying. If I tore a calf training it would be one thing but to have my body perfectly OK but not able to do it because of a finger wound is silly. There is the chance I could say sod it and do it anyway. At least it's a sea swim and not in a manky lake.

Kinda hoping when they come and look at it this morning it's healed more and they don't need to do it.

$hite that is frustrating! Hope it heals quickly so you get a different answer this morning.

Assuming you can ride ok, if you don't swim until the event then that's over a week for it to heal...use some sort of waterproof dressing....should be fine in my internet based opinion (I advise you ignore my medical advice )

I'm possibly out. My finger is bad and I'm in hospital currently. On iv antibiotics and having small surgery in the morning. Dr I spoke to yesterday said I can't swim. Going to ask the one tomorrow and hope to get a new answer.